Recent content by Hermit

We have a heavy Spring snow storm going on today. The power went out a while ago and might be back on in a couple of hours. The timing was good. I just got my plow truck back from the shop. Actually a couple of shops. After the last big snow the plow was not raising as high as it should. I...

I recently reallocated back to 65/31/4 after not paying attention for a while. With a pension and SS I don't need to spend investments on living expenses. (I do spend investment generated cash for fun stuff when I want to.) I keep cash in the investment accounts so I can use QCDs to my advantage...

Mail delivered within 20 miles of your house??? Amazing!

The topper is on the truck. Now I have ordered carpeting for the bed, a ladder so I can climb in the back, to be replaced by a fold out step in the near future. The kids, grand kids, and I are going to Texas to watch the eclipse next month. We are camping out the night before the big event. I...

I rolled my 401k over to an IRA several years ago in anticipation of some large charitable commitments I had coming up. That also allowed me to separate a small amount of after tax money in my 401k and put it in a Roth IRA.

DD and family were up last weekend and DD came down with shingles which was confirmed by her doctor after she got home. She is 34. Her Mom had shingles in her 20s. I have been vaccinated so not expecting any problems. Today I plowed some very deep snow. All I did was plow out the roads and...

I cant stay away from the IRMAA. The break points are a hard thing to predict because you are estimating what the numbers will be in two years. My plan is to stay below an IRMAA break point by enough that I am confident in not going over. I will double up on charitable giving one year if needed...

Before any large contribution, I think it is worthwhile to look on line at the organiztion's Form 990 and independant audits for the last few years. It is a basic verification that their financial house is in reasonable order and that they are open and honest about their finances.

I just got back from a rescue. A guy that has a summer cabin came up with his son to do some ice fishing and took a summer shortcut in the winter and got stuck in very soft drifted snow that was about 18 inches deep and 100 feet long. Someone in an atv happened by and gave him a ride over to the...

I live at the far end of ten miles of bad road. I have never been stuck, but I have pulled quite a few people out of stuck spots. I have also driven that Jeep Wrangler across the coutry thousands of miles and it seemed pretty comfortable to me. I have also done quite a bit of off roading in it...

It did take about 14 months to get the truck and it was not what I ordered, but close enough. I think it was just what the factory shipped and it happened to be close enough to what I wanted for the sales guy to call me. My son went with me to pick it up and drive the Jeep back. The Jeep was...

I picked up my new truck yesterday. It is a Toyota Tundra SR5 with a TRD package which is 4WD. Today is my birthday so I am calling it my birthday present to me. I ordered it in December of 2022. I am keeping my Jeep too so the truck is mostly just for fun. My next trip to town will include a...

Doing year end finance stuff and trying to figure out what all the Amazon charges are for. 278 purchases last year with often 5 or more items on one purchase. Do I have an addiction problem???

I am on the board of our Ranch community. The Ranch owns the property and the members have access to a 5 acre lot. Improvements on each lot are owned by the member for that lot. The board runs pretty smoothly. Most of the work and interaction with contractors falls on the two of us on the board...

My good friend had brain surgery in his early 70s by the best surgens in Colorado while with Humana. It went quite well for him. I would hope to have as good of care. I have another friend that had rods placed along his spine which got him out of a "turtle shell" brace. He has been doing good...